WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. After receiving a bounce card from junior guard Eric Ayala at the top of the arc, the second forward, Donta Scott, used a pump tease to throw down his defender and then stormed into the lane. He took off from the free-throw line and jumped into the air with full force to hit a Connecticut defender with a powerful blow with one hand.
Huskie forward Adama Sanogo then scored a layup on the other side, but Maryland’s men’s basketball was not the best. The bright lights were on, and this time it was Aaron Wiggins’ turn. The junior guard cut into the paint, grabbed a pass from senior Darryl Morsell and burst onto the basket for a slam dunk from him to extend Terps’ lead to 13.
Maryland named head coach Mark Turgeon to head coach Mark Turgeon for the first time in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. But the team found its rhythm to play with confidence so it could hold on to a comeback effort from UConn en route to a 63-54 victory.
The game in the first round was expected to be a defensive victim, but Maryland’s offense would not be stopped. The Terps shot 51.2% from the field and 50% from deep, tearing the Connecticut defense apart.
Nearly every college basketball expert across the country chose the Huskies to win this one, and the first minutes of the game gave a glimpse into why that was possible.
Connecticut took full control of the boards from the opening spot and grabbed four consecutive offensive setbacks before tapping a triple leader and leading 3-0. All of the Huskies’ first seven points come with a second chance, while the Terps struggle to man the defensive boards.
Junior guard Eric Ayala allowed the Terps to stay ahead despite such a fight. He comes out of the gates on fire to score eight of Maryland’s first ten points, and does so brilliantly without missing a shot.
The Terps played with hunting defense, allowing only the Huskies to make five of their first 18 shots off the floor, but that did not make a big difference in the goal scorer due to the poor performance on the boards. During the under-12 media exit, Maryland only took a 13-11 lead after allowing UConn nine second chances on ten offensive rebounds to start the game.
Yet the dismal bounce performance did not do much damage to the Terps because they did so on the other side of the floor.
As the first half continued, Ayala’s heroic play continued as well. He was a man who was on a mission and did not intend to delay any time soon. After UConn took a 19-18 lead with just under eight minutes, Ayala easily tapped a deep try through a shot from Darryl Morsell to represent his team again. And they never left again.
It was the junior guard’s last bucket of the half as he put out the last four and a half minutes with two errors. But as the Terps’ confidence grew, so did other players.
In the next ball possession, after an ugly setback for the ball after a missed UConn shot, Hart again had a crucial pass and kicked the ball out to Aaron Wiggins, who drained a triple point around the Terps with 28- 19 too late.
The series was part of a 10-0 run from Maryland, but the real catalyst of the team was the hunting defense, which forced Connecticut to miss eight straight shots amid a 4:06 drought.
While the Huskies failed offensively, the leading scorer in James Bouknight struggled to get himself on track. The Terps picked the projected lottery every time he got in the paint, with the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year in Morsell also making it easy for him on the perimeter.
UConn’s leading scorer was held on just 3 points on 3-of-11 shooting in the first half as the Huskie offense was neutral for most of the first 20 minutes of play. The team shot only 23.1% from the field and 33.3% from outside the arc, as Maryland’s attack seemed completely in rhythm, led by a game level of 14 first halves of Ayala to a lead of 33 -22 in the dressing room. .
The 75% depth hike point was more than Connecticut allowed in the entire half of the season, with its previous high of 61.5% allowed on March 6 at Georgetown.
Ayala’s hot streak picked up as soon as he was back in action to start the second half. He drained consecutive jumpers in the first two minutes of action and extended the lead in Maryland to 43-29 before the monstrous shots of Scott and Wiggins.
The Terps led by as much as 14 points, but the Huskies, who struggled offensively throughout the game, started to climb back in the second half.
UConn used an 11-3 run over 6:37 to take Maryland’s lead to five with just three minutes left, with Maryland needing quick response to finish off its first round game. And it did just that over the last 2:36, with four converted free throws from Ayala and Morsell widening the gap to 57-48, making the Terps rely on their defense to get them over the finish line.
Three things to know
1. Eric Ayala was electrifying. To start the game, Ayala has eight of the Terps’ first ten points, but he did not stop there. The guard ended the evening with 23 points shooting 8-for-14 from the field, 3-for-5 from deep and 4-for-4 from the line. In his 32 minutes on the court, Ayala grabs four plates, gets one assist and steals the ball three times from the Huskies. When the Terps needed him most, Ayala boosted the team’s momentum. In the final seconds of the game, Ayala got the ball to Hakeem Heart to extend Maryland’s lead when they were just six points higher.
2. The play in the paint was pretty even. Despite the fact that UConn has the size advantage over the undersized Terps, Maryland has managed to keep its sides of the floor in the paint. Although the Huskies themselves scored 18 points in the paint, the Terps drew 24 of their own, including a few on some wrinkles.
3. Maryland faces next two-seeded Alabama. With the victory, The Terps play the Crimson Tide in the Round of 32 on Monday. Maryland wants to advance to the Sweet Sixteen after only falling short in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.